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Four Magnum photographers have teamed up with two reporters from the Swiss newspaper Le Temps to document key issues in the United States ahead of November's presidential elections.

Working alongside Simon Petite and Léo Tichelli, photographers Eli Reed, Larry Towell, Cristina de Middel and Peter van Agtmael will explore issues such as the economy, democracy, abortion, foreign policy and immigration in several key states. The collaboration will also explore images from the Magnum archive in special publications in October and November.

For the third report in the series, Cristina de Middel traveled to Florida with journalist Simon Petite in September 2024 to document the ongoing challenges and local perceptions of abortion in the state, where as of May 2024, women who are more than six weeks pregnant are no longer legally allowed to have an abortion. In the state, a coalition of pro-choice activists have nonetheless collected enough signatures to restore the right to abortion up to 24 weeks by referendum. Amendment 4, or the Florida Right to Abortion initiative, will now be on the ballot on November 5 during the presidential election.

Cristina de Middel visited Woman's World Medical Center in Fort Piece, the last abortion center in this part of the United States, where confrontations between pro-life and pro-choice groups are routine. She documented the tactics of pro-abortion activists who set up a fake clinic in front of the real one to mislead women seeking abortions. De Middel also met with a priest and pro-Trump immigrants.

Abortion in Florida

(From 2015)

August 8th 1945. A clear, cloudless sky over Hiroshima. 12 year old Kawamoto Kanesaki and his teacher hurried along the path by the river, late for school, it was almost 8:15. They heard the sound of planes. Fascinated, Kawamoto witnessed the American B29 bomber Enola Gay releasing Little Boy. Seconds later Little Boy, the first atomic bomb used against human targets, went off 580 meters above Shima Hospital with a force of 15 thousand tons of TNT. A fireball with a temperature of several million degrees centigrade at detonation, sent thermal rays out that would burn human flesh at a distance of 3.5 kilometers.

Three days later another American B29 bomber dropped Fat Man, a plutonium atomic bomb shaped like an egg, through cloud cover over Nagasaki and onto the Urakami district. Forty seconds later, at 11.02 am, after drifting down on its parachute 1 1/2 miles away from its target area, an explosion equivalent to 21 thousand tons of TNT ripped through the sky.

By the end of 1945 some 140,000 people had died in Hiroshima, 60,000 of whom are estimated to have died from radiation poisoning and some 75,000 people in Nagasaki. The exact number of dead remains unknown, tens of thousands of Koreans working as slave labour in the factories of mainland Japan have never been included. The reach of the bomb's horrifying impact was far wider than anyone initially realised. Witnesses and survivors of the bombs were later struck by the invisible torch of radiation which burnt and poisoned them. Unlike any weapon before, its deadly alchemy was to work for decades after the first waves of dead had been mourned, the rubble cleared, the buildings rebuilt. Decades later cancer caused by radiation was still killing Hibakusha - the Atom Bomb Survivors.

The Hibakusha have struggled to get their voice heard, to be recognized as a unique class of war victim. Their story holds a distinct place in the history of man's destruction of man, one that must be heard. Through these portraits and accounts, twenty-two of this unique generation of survivors share their experiences of these atroticites.

Interview text with each of the portrait subjects by Miyako Yamada is available.

The Hibakusha: Survivors of the...

"What is it like to grow up in Palestine? How can you live amid violence, fear and oppression? What does the future look like when the past has been violently stripped of possibility? (...)"

With the people of Jenin and Nablus, Palestinian-Dutch photographer Sakir Khader explores the complex ways resistance counters occupation, and thrives in devotion to land and to life. Early encounters with repression, trauma and hardship necessitate resilience. Here, commitment to the land is found equally in the unshakable determination of fighters and the beekeeper’s dedication to his craft. It is the capacity to interweave childhood, family, mourning, play, and loss with an unyielding spirit of defiance, even when born into displacement.

"Khader bears witness to those who give up everything to sustain decades of resistance and those who persist, with remarkable tenacity, in building lives despite isolation from the freedom of their own lands." (Extract from curator Mohamed Somji's text)

"The West Bank has been on edge for the entirety of 2023. Danger lurks at every corner, and death has become an everyday reality. Before the cameras arrived, I captured what the world either couldn't see or simply refused to acknowledge. It was a suffocating journey toward inevitable collapse—a vicious cycle of violence that has gripped the people for longer than they can remember, with almost no way out. Every story starts with a nearly unbearable innocence and, without exception, ends either in injury, deep mourning, or, for an ever-growing number, carried on the shoulders of friends—silent, reverent—on their way to their final resting place." - Sakir Khader

"I have no more earth to lose"

Hassan Nasrallah had led Hezbollah for the past thirty years, transforming the Lebanese militant group into one of the most formidable paramilitary forces in the Middle East.

On Saturday, September 28, Hezbollah announced that he was killed in an Israeli airstrike that destroyed six apartment buildings in Beirut the day before.

Magnum photographers have documented Nasrallah's presence and influence in the region for decades, from his early years in power to his assassination.

Hassan Nasrallah: 1960-2024

In honor of President Jimmy Carter's 100th birthday on October 1st, 2024, we reflect on his impactful presidency and his lifelong dedication to humanitarian work, which continues to inspire. As we honor this milestone, we dive into our archive to reflect on his extraordinary contributions to peace and service.

Jimmy Carter Turns 100

THE BORDER WAR—Larry Towell

"According to US Arizona Border Patrol, illegal crossings from Mexico into the US have dropped dramatically since President Joe Biden’s June 4, 2024 executive order barring migrants who enter illegally from claiming asylum. He has expanded wall construction and closed gaps making crossings more difficult. The Arizona border constitutes one of the most isolated and dangerous of the border’s nine geographic sectors. The Tuscon segment is a 262 mile stretch of steel/cement, electronic surveillance cameras and linear ground detection systems. Of the 200 tunnels that go beneath the wall nationwide, half are in the Nogales region of Arizona.

Migrants from China, Mexico, India, Central America and the countries of Africa flee gang violence, war, persecution, economic collapse and global warming. Drug cartels who charge exorbitant fees to assist in their transport through a chain of human smugglers, have divided up the frontier claiming stretches won by violent border wars. Migrants often suffer extortion, rape, and being abandoned in the desert while US presidential candidates from both parties cater to a public sentiment for “stronger security” fueled by the right-wing rhetoric of “being over run”.

According to Migration Data Portal, the border between Mexico and the United States is the second deadliest land crossing in the world. Once in the US, migrants are also subject to the intimidation of militia groups who “tour” the region to terrorize asylum seekers and intimidate Samaritans who assist them with food, water and shelter.

Larry Towell spent a week accompanying the Tuscon Samaritans and US Border Patrol. He was denied access to the local paramilitary group “Tuscon Border Recon” who poison water supplies and steal food left by Samaritans. Their spokesperson, Tim Foley of Arivaca, Arizona, believes humanitarian groups should be fined. Other far-right vigilante organizations that patrol the border include: Q-Anon, The Minutemen, and Proud Boys among others."

The Border War (USA)

In 2023, Paolo Pellegrin visited the Norwegian town of Kirkenes, one of the most strategically sensitive regions on earth. Bordering Russia and Finland, the small fishing town just 200 meters away from the Kola Peninsula, has been treated by Russia as a nuclear laboratory, testing intelligence operations there before replicating them across Europe. These test trials of "hybrid warfare" are Russia's attempts to subdue the enemy without fighting, pushing the limits of what they can get away with, to sabotage and to instill fear.

An attack on one NATO member is an attack on all, yet each incident is below the threshold that would require a military response, or trigger Article 5. Every European country that borders Russia is preparing for a wider war in the event of a Russian victory in Ukraine. Sweden cast aside 200 years of neutrality and non-alignment to join NATO, and Finland 70 years.

On assignment for The New Yorker, Pellegrin observed the small corner of the Norwegian arctic as it stands at the threshold of uncertainty, geographically isolated from the rest of Norway and the West.

Security on the Norwegian-Russian...

Azerbaijan will host COP-29 from November 11 to 22, 2024. But the small oil state is suffering greatly from the causes and effects of climate change, and faces significant trade-offs.

On assignment for the NYT, Nanna Heitmann documented the small country in July 2024. Together with journalist Max Bearak, she reported from remote mountain villages, an offshore oil platform and the capital, Baku.

"As alarm over global warming soars amid record-breaking heat and increasingly erratic weather, Azerbaijan has barely begun the process of replacing oil and gas. It has argued, as many less developed nations have, that rich nations must cough up billions of dollars to help them transition their economies, given that the world’s wealthier countries are responsible, in historical terms, for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions," wrote Max Bearak for the NYT.

Azerbaijan's Climate Change Dilemmas...

After the 2023 Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel, followed by Israeli retaliation in the Gaza Strip, the conflict quickly spread to the Lebanese border with Hezbollah.

On behalf of The Washington Post, Myriam Boulous traveled with journalist Kareem Fahim for a day on September 10, 2024 to document the Spanish contingent of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, near the Blue Line.

"UNIFIL provides humanitarian aid, including to civilians under imminent threat of violence. At least twice during the current conflict, Albar said, civilians sheltered in UNIFIL facilities in the Spanish contingent's area," Kareem Fahim wrote for the Washington Post.

UNIFIL in South Lebanon

Robert Capa

The military clashes between Israel and various Lebanon-based militant groups trace back to Israel's founding in 1948, after which Lebanon and its neighbors declared war. Following the PLO's establishment in Lebanon in 1968, Israel invaded twice—in 1978 (Operation Litani) and in 1982—occupying southern Lebanon. In response, Hezbollah was formed to resist the occupation.

Israel withdrew in 2000, but conflict reignited in a month-long war with Hezbollah in 2006, which left significant damage in Lebanon but strengthened Hezbollah's political position. Since then, border skirmishes have continued, escalating further since the outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian war in October 2023.

Magnum photographers have documented this enduring conflict for decades.

Israel & Lebanon from the Archives...

On September 10th, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump faced off in the first and possibly only debate before the upcoming 2024 U.S. election. Cristina De Middel photographed Kamala Harris supporters at a debate watch party in Florida, as more than 67 million viewers tuned in worldwide.

2024 Presidential Debate Watch...

Four Magnum photographers have teamed up with two reporters from the Swiss newspaper Le Temps to document key issues in the United States ahead of the upcoming presidential elections in November 2024.

Alongside Simon Petite and Léo Tichelli, photographers Eli Reed, Larry Towell, Cristina de Middel and Peter van Agtmael explore themes of economy, democracy, abortion, foreign policy, and immigration in several key states.

For the first report in the series, Eli Reed traveled to Georgia in July 2024 with journalist Simon Petite to document ongoing challenges in the face of democracy. Over the course of several days, they met with election officials, African-American voters, and Republican candidates, bearing witness to the climate of heightened tension in the contested state.

Democracy in Atlanta

Between 2022 and 2024, Alec Soth visited twenty-five undergraduate art programmes across the United States. Advice for Young Artists comprises work he made there. Its title – perhaps like the visits themselves – is misleading: rather than wisdom or guidance, Soth offers an angular and unresolved reflection on artmaking at different stages of life and the relations of photography, time, and ageing. The photographs here range from formal studies evocative of the classroom to more unruly works of self-expression. Ambiguous stagings, found forms, and lyrical portraits are interspersed with gnomic quotes and unfinished credos scrawled on Post-its. Among the students, Soth himself appears at intervals, an uncertain sage in their midst.

Inspired by Walker Evans’s late Polaroids, this latest body of work reveals a new expansion of Soth’s practice and a new vantage, twenty years on from the publication of his first book. Recalling the conceit of Broken Manual, it uses an instructional format as a spurious cover for introspection and provocation. As much as a study of the experience of the young artist, this is a reckoning with the prospect of becoming an old one.

MACK, 2024
Embossed linen hardcover with tip-in.
26.6 x 27.3 cm, 72 pages
ISBN 978-1-915743-76-3

Advice for Young Artists

Born in Belgium in 1941, Harry Gruyaert was one of the first European photographers to take advantage of color (...). Heavily influenced by pop art, his dense compositions are known for weaving together texture, light, color, and architecture to create filmic, jewel-hued tableaux. As a result, they often seem closer to painting than to photography.

Although his wanderlust has taken him to many exotic locations, Gruyaert has frequently returned to his country of birth. (...) His lens captures the singularity of his nation, portraying everyday life in a way that unfolds like a hyperrealistic film set. As a counterpoint to these more recent color photographs, three portfolios of black-and-white images taken in the 1970s punctuate this visual immersion and journey through the lowlands.
(Publisher presentation)

22,5 x 22,5 cm
256 pages
165 color photographs
Text : Brice Matthieussent

Thames & Hudson
January 2025
ISBN : 9780500028995

Atelier EXB
September 2024

Homeland

The History War is a book of photographs, collages and ephemera which beings with a timeline tracing Ukraine’s evolution from the 5th century and its long struggle for independence. The book is divided into six narratives documenting the events and people Larry Towell encountered in his many journeys to Ukraine.

Towell first visited Ukraine at the time of the Maidan uprising in 2014, witnessing the final days of the violent clashes between the protestors and police in Kyiv. His photographs show the civilians behind makeshift barricades with home-made weapons, the heavily shielded police and the aftermath of the dead in a half-destroyed Maidan Square. It was this event which led to Towell’s long-term commitment to Ukraine and compelled him to return over the years.

The second chapter focuses on Towell’s time in the wastelands of Chernobyl, site of history’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986 which resulted in many Soviets losing faith in the system. The following chapters focus on Towell’s time on eastern Donbass—a region of neglected coal miners and de-occupied ruins, an embed with the Ukrainian Army in Bakhmut, time with separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk, and finally, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the exhumation of civilian graves and crimes against humanity in Bucha.

Described by Towell as ‘one person’s book on Ukraine’ The History War challenges the possibilities of a photobook and demonstrates how storytelling can be woven together by different fabrics. Taking on the format of a scrapbook, Towell combines personal notes with ephemera—postcards, found family pictures, playing cards, cigarette packets and rubbish left behind by Russian soldiers to supplement his images.

‘I believe this project is an important testament to a political crisis that will shape international relations and reverberate through the decades to come. It also challenges a world oversaturated with news pictures.’

GOST, 2024
199x250mm, Portrait,
192 pages, 123 images
Hardback, clothbound cover
978-1-915423-40-5

The History War

Moises Saman traveled to Sudan for The New York Times and documented the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s stronghold in the Nuba Mountains. The country has been embroiled in a civil war for over a year, driven by ethnic, religious, and resource conflicts, resulting in as many as 150,000 deaths and the displacement of 11 million civilians according to the NYT. The S.P.L.M., with its secular vision, encourages residents to identify as “Nuba” rather than by religion.

Despite efforts by the group and foreign NGOs to provide education and healthcare, the threat of famine remains.

Sudan: The War the World Forgot...

During the June 3, 2019 sit-in at the General Command of the Sudanese Armed Forces, I had great hope for the revolution. For the first time, I was in intimate proximity to my Sudan. People at the sit-in were from different cultural, class, and political backgrounds, united in their goal. I was overcome with emotions. As I wandered the square, I could smell the scent of freedom. After the sit-in at the General Command was dispersed on June 3, 2019, the armed forces of the Sudanese Transitional Military Council, headed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the immediate successor organization to the Janjaweed militia, used heavy gunfire and teargas to disperse a sit-in by protestors in Khartoum, killing more than 100 people, at least forty of the bodies had been thrown in the River Nile. And the RSF raped more than 70 women and men. The Internet was almost completely blocked in Sudan in the days following the massacre, making it difficult to estimate the number of victims. The Sudanese political parties represented by the Sudanese Professionals Association and Forces of Freedom and Change agreed to negotiate with the apparatus responsible for the bloodshed and killings of the protestors. They did so despite fierce opposition from the people in the streets, who categorically refused negotiation with the killers. The political parties proceeded with the negotiation, ignoring the calls of the street under the pretext of preventing bloodshed. Two and a half years of transitional civilian government ended on November 25, 2021, with the coup led by General AI-Burhan. As I watched the weak military statement announcing the coup on the Sudanese national channel when I was in Cairo, I became emotional again. This time, my emotions were negative, and all hope was lost. The Khartoum Airport was closed for seven consecutive days, and my flight home was canceled. My birthday is on January 1, 1995. It is the date listed on my birth certificate, but I do not know my real date of birth. I was granted an estimated birthdate of January 1st by the state due to a lack of infrastructure to build a modern digital archive system. I have been born during a hard political time in Sudan's history, in the second Sudanese civil war from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the first Sudanese civil war of 1955 to 1972.

As of the Summer of 2024, this was an ongoing project.

(Salih Basheer, 2024)

Blue: Children of January

On Saturday, October 7th, Israel was taken by surprise in an unexpected and severe cross-border assault by Hamas from Gaza, resulting in the initial deaths of 900 people. The BBC reported that included in this number were 260 individuals attending a music festival. With many still missing or abducted by Hamas in Israel, families are left desperately seeking information as the conflict unfolds.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared war on Hamas, vowing to use “enormous force” by launching strikes in Gaza and imposing a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip, freezing the flow of essential supplies. According to the BBC, as of October 9th approximately 690 people in Gaza had lost their lives and more than 120,000 had been displaced from their homes.

The result of this has triggered the latest outbreak of fighting in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, drawing in outside powers and echoing across the broader Arab region.

Israel and Palestine from the Archives...

Ukrainian President Vicktor Yanukovych’s cabinet abandoned an agreement on closer trade ties in the EU, favoring closer cooperation with Russia. What began as small protests escalated to the Revolution of Dignity, also known as the Maidan Revolution, a violent protest with at least 88 deaths. Following the Euromaidan protests and removal of Yanukovych, partnered with pro-Russia unrest in Ukraine, Russian annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.

Demonstrations in the Donbas area of Ukraine escalated into a war between the Ukrainian Government and Russian-backed separatist forces. Russian military vehicles crossed the border in several locations of Donetsk Oblast, which is believed to be responsible for the defeat of Ukrainian forces in early September of 2014. In November, Ukrainian military reported intensive movement of Russian combat troops into separatist-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine.

In October 2021, Russia reignited concerns of a potential invasion after moving troops and military equipment to the shared border with Ukraine. The buildup continued until Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February, 2022.

Russo-Ukrainian Conflict

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